Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson says some students should spend five years in high school as a way to reduce Indiana’s drop out rate.  Excuse me?!  She says some students can’t finish school in four years and need more time to graduate.

No offense JLT, but what you are proposing here is called “lowering the bar to get more students to pass.”   If someone can’t do something in four years, is an extra year really going to make a difference.  If you are going to give students an extra year, why not two more years.  Heck for that matter, 10 years.  Why don’t we just say an “F” is now a passing grade and everyone can get through the gate.   Also, by throwing in an extra year we are looking at potentially 20-year olds sitting in a classroom with 15-year olds.  The potential for me to break into my R. Kelly repertoire is immense right now.

Instead of giving kids more time, how about we give them more standards and more choices and create a real voucher program. That way failing schools will go away which, along with the lack parental involvement, are the real culprits. I’m all for free books, more vocational education and public-private partnerships to mentor and tutor kids, but more time to get through high school?!  

Instead of offering more time in school JLT, you should have spent more time at the drawing board on this one.

  With the Democratic convention over and Evan Bayh not selected to run for vice president, we’ll know soon how seriously the party’s national leaders and moneybags feel about Jill Long Thompson’s chances of being elected governor.

  Long Thompson would have benefited in two ways if Barack Obama had chosen Bayh.  The obvious one is that it would have meant many more votes for the Democratic Presidential ticket in Indiana, which would help her and other down-ballot candidates.  But the other reason is that it would have made it more important for national Democrats to help her get elected.

  If Bayh were elected vice president, he would have to be replaced in the Senate.  The governor gets to make that choice.  If Mitch Daniels is re-elected that would have been a Republican, dropping the Democrats’ U.S. Senate majority by one.  But if Long Thompson had been elected (and assuming Bayh waited until after her inauguration to resign his Senate seat), she would have chosen another Democrat to replace him.

  Now that’s not a consideration.  Any financial help Long Thompson gets from this point on from national sources will be predicated on just one thing…their belief in her chances of winning.  So her contributions from this point will be very interesting.

 Above the fray.  That apparently is Gov. Mitch Daniels’ campaign strategy.  While he does plan to debate Democrat Jill Long Thompson three times this fall, it looks as though he plans on minimizing all other discussion of her or her programs.  When Long Thompson holds a news conference to unveil a program or proposal, the only time you can get a sound bite directly from the governor is if he has a public event on another topic.

  Generally his campaign produces a spokesperson to do the reply.  But in the past week or so, even that has gotten difficult.  The campaign is now shifting reporters to Republican Party people for on-camera responses, putting another layer between Daniels and his challenger.

  It’s all reminiscent of a 1980 campaign episode involving Republican Bob Orr and Democrat John Hillenbrand.  Having debates wasn’t universally expected then as it is now.  But the Bloomington Public TV station invited both to a candidates’ night, along with about a dozen legislative candidates.  Orr didn’t come, but Hillenbrand did.  And, amazingly, he went on the air anyway, along with the people running for the House and Senate, sitting in the back row.  Talk about minimizing yourself in front of the voters!

  Long Thompson certaintly isn’t doing anything like that.  But it just shows how the person holding the upper hand can marginalize the challenger just by keeping a certain distance.  So unless Long Thompson says something that really makes the governor mad (think Pat Bauer and the infamous car-bombing remark), don’t expect him to directly say much, if anything to any of her proposals this fall.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson says she won’t break the $3.8 billion lease of the Indiana Toll Road, but she says she will try to renegotiate it if she can.

Thompson made her comments by announcing she would take a second look at all of the state’s privatization contracts.  She says Lt. Governor Candidate Dennie Oxley would spearhead the effort.

JLT says the Toll Road lease as well as the privatization/modernization of FSSA intake and eligibility were bad deals for the taxpayers and that she would try to cancel or renegotiate them.  She said everything was on the table and she would make the best decision based on what was most cost effective.

JLT did not say all privatization was bad and said she could support privatization for some services and equipment manufacturing, but she would not privatize the administration of state programs.

JLT said after 20 years the Toll Road consortium will make a profit and that money should be going to the state.  She downplayed the fact that consortium would also assume the costs and maintenance of the Toll Road.

A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said the Toll Road lease has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for state transportation projects and the consortium is investing more than $400 million in making improvements.

Frankly, absent some major breach of the agreement or serious meeting of the minds by the two parties,  I don’t see how the Toll Road lease can be renegotiated.   And if it were, I hope someone can find  the $51 million they’ll have to pay back for every year the lease is shortened.